Components of nest provisioning behavior in solitary bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Abstract - The components of nest provisioning behavior (resources per cell, transport capacity, trip duration, trips per cell) are examined for a data set derived from the literature and various unpublished studies. While there is a trade-off between transport capacity and trips required per cell, the highest provisioning rates are achieved by bees carrying very large pollen loads at intermediate trip durations. Most solitary bees appear to be either egg or resource limited, so sustained provisioning rates over one cell per day are unusual.